Taylor Swift opened up about 30 life lessons she’s learned in her 29 years in a new write-up for ‘Elle’ on Mar. 6, and one of them reveals the reason she’s very private about her relationship with boyfriend Joe Alwyn.

Taylor Swift, 29, has a very good reason for keeping her romance with Joe Alwyn, 28, her boyfriend of two years, under wraps. The singer released a piece she wrote for Elle on Mar. 6, that reveals 30 life lessons she’s learned before she turns 30 in Dec., and in it, she revealed why she’s been so private about her current love relationship this time around.

“For too long, the projected opinions of strangers affected how I viewed my relationships,” Taylor wrote, elaborating on her eighth lesson of learning not to let outside opinions affect the value she places on her own life choices. “Whether it was the general internet consensus of who would be right for me, or what they thought was ‘couples goals’ based on a picture I posted on Instagram. That stuff isn’t real. For an approval seeker like me, it was an important lesson for me to learn to have my OWN value system of what I actually want.”

Taylor’s decision to take that fake stuff off of Instagram is apparent considering she disabled comments, and now all you will find on her page nowadays are pictures that either promote her music and/or a project she’s doing, or of her beloved cats, Meredith and Olivia. Although she and Joe are sometimes spotted in public at events or private outings, such as going on hikes, they have never shared a pic of themselves together on social media.

Before Taylor started dating Joe, she had a relationship with Calvin Harris, 35, that lasted just over a year. from 2015-2016, and it turned out to be her most public. The “Delicate” singer posted various pics and videos of herself hanging out with the Scottish DJ and her friends even praised the relationship on more than once occasion.

Since Taylor and her current beau, Joe’s relationship seems to have lasting power at over two years, we’d say going the private route is the key to keeping things as healthy as possible. We’re so happy the talented songwriter has been living her personal life on her own terms and learning many things in the process!